The Human Touch in AI, Revolutionizing Customer Experience with Abby, a conversation with CEO Nathan Strum

Integrating AI in Customer Service: Insights from Nathan Strum, CEO of Abby Connect

In this episode of The Wireless Way, host Chris Whitaker welcomes Nathan Strum, CEO and co-founder of Abby Connect. Together, they discuss the integration of AI into customer service, focusing on how Nathan's company is blending AI technology with human touch to improve customer experiences. Nathan shares the journey of turning a family-owned virtual receptionist business into a thriving company, the challenges faced in implementing AI, and the importance of maintaining empathy and personal service. Chris and Nathan also explore the broader implications of AI for small and medium businesses, emphasizing the potential benefits and addressing common concerns. This episode offers invaluable insights for anyone curious about AI's role in customer service and the evolution of business technology.

00:00 Welcome to The Wireless Way
00:18 Introducing Nathan Strum and Abby Connect
01:23 The Evolution of Abby Connect
03:05 Nathan's Personal Journey and Hobbies
08:14 The Importance of Customer Experience
10:43 Embracing AI in Business
16:57 Challenges and Successes with AI Integration
18:43 Nuances of Training AI Receptionists
19:38 Handling Accents and Complex Conversations
22:12 AI Enhancing Front Desk Efficiency
23:25 AI in Sales: Enhancing Productivity
27:48 Product-Led Growth and Customer Onboarding
29:18 Advice for Small and Medium Business Owners
33:12 The Future of AI in the Workplace
35:42 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Transcript

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 0:00

Hey, welcome to another episode of The Wireless Way. I'm your host, Chris Whitaker. And Ben, I'm, I'm glad you're here today. I'm glad you're, you're checking out another episode here. You keep coming back and it's been a big, it's been a big, uh, month for the wireless way. A lot of great guests, a lot of the great content of all types of technology. And today, you know, I'm really excited to introduce Nathan Strum. Uh, he's my guest today. And, uh, we're gonna talk about. A topic I haven't really talked, touched on other than AI and how AI is used in his, his, his product, his offering, and his company. So we're gonna get into that. But first, a little bit about Nathan, uh, CEO co-founder of Abby Connect. Innovative family built answering service that's been setting the gold standard and small business customer care for the past 20 years. I know a lot of you sell into that SMB space, so pay attention here. Uh, Nathan launched Abby originally tele assistant in 2005 alongside, uh, his parents, uh, building it from a modest virtual receptionist service into a thriving family owned company, headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. And over the decades, Nathan has remained fiercely focused on one mission, delivering exceptional caller experience through warm personal service. And yes, AI is gonna play in that, and we're gonna talk about that. Uh, and, and it's not all ai. Obviously we'll get into that. So, uh, now, uh, Abby Connect is entering this next chapter, as I mentioned, integration. Uh, after 18 months of development and two months of real world beta, uh, Nathan and his team have launched the AI receptionist, a hybrid model that blends the empathy of human receptionist with the efficiency and scalability of ai. Uh, we're gonna start seeing more and more of that it seems, um, uh, for Nathan, uh, who spent a career craft and beautifully human customer experience, uh, this is more than a tech pivot. It's a thoughtful evolution enhancing service, not replacing it. And after two decades of, uh, operating behind the scenes, he's stepping at the spotlight to share insights on leading in the AI era. What works, what doesn't. And above all, how to keep the human touch at the heart of innovation. So if you've ever been curious about how AI can augment and not erase real connection, or you're just simply passionate about what customer experiences look like today, this conversation is for you. So pay attention and take notes. Check the show notes. As of as always, I'll have some good links there, and I am grateful to welcome my guest, Nathan Strum. How are you doing today, sir?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 2:34

Hi, Chris. Thank you for such a great introduction. I'm doing great.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 2:38

Man. That's fantastic. Well, it's uh, easy to do a great introduction when the story's good, you know? So, uh, I as a tech enthusiast myself, uh, and we're at that time in technology where it's just really exciting to be here because just when you think you've got it all figured out. It's evolving, it's being enhanced by more technology, and that's what I'm really, uh, excited to have this conversation with you. But before we get into that, as always, you know, first question for my guests. Hey, what's not the bio? Uh, tell us a little bit more about you and, and how did you get here?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 3:11

Sure. So the bio is a very polished version. The story is a

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 3:14

I.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 3:15

messier. Uh. Maybe a little bit more fun. Um, I would say a lot of bloods, uh, sweat and tears, uh, but also a lot of family fights.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 3:26

Hmm.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 3:26

Uh, so

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 3:26

Yeah.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 3:27

worked with their family knows that, uh, there's, there's some butting of heads going on and, and, uh, it can get a little contentious at times, which, which brings out the personality, uh, and really, uh. Has made us humble as a family to, to run this business. Um, but you know, there's been a lot of pivots along, along the way. There's been a lot of lessons learned. Um, you know, we started out as, uh, renting office space found a business in the phone service, uh, support industry. And, uh, like you said, we've, we've pivoted today to add AI to our offerings.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 4:05

Fantastic. Have you always been a techie? I mean, is this kind of, I mean, being it was a family business, you just kind of grew up in it. Have, you've always had this, this, uh, interest in technology? I.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 4:16

I've always had a, a interest in technology. Um, I've really gotten my hands too deep into it as the business has evolved. Uh, I know you're a, a telecom guy. We started out with a old Mytel 3,300, phone system, and, uh. You know, I, I, I used to spend nights getting in there and figuring out what I could do with that phone system, and it was, it was a learning lesson.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 4:42

So when, when you're not building great technology for Abby, uh, your business, mean, do you have any, any hobbies you're passionate about or, or are you all work kind of guy?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 4:52

Well, it used to be all work. Uh, but recently in the past five years, I started, uh, racing cars.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 5:00

Ooh.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 5:01

Uh, so we go and, um, now I'm gonna, I'm a student and I'll probably be a student for the rest of my life. Uh, I've only done one official race, but uh, we go and we race Porsches mostly. Uh, and we've started racing out in Europe as well. Had some great tracks out there.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 5:19

Wow, man, that's, that's pretty, that's pretty amazing. So, uh, how many cars do you have? You, you just have, have you won race car or do you have Uh, more than one?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 5:28

Well, we, the, the experience, the place that we go to

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 5:32

Oh yeah.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 5:33

the vehicle.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 5:33

Oh, good. Okay.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 5:35

so yeah, we've, we've been using their vehicles.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 5:38

You know, yeah. I got a, I, I, uh, I didn't tell you this in our pre show, but whenever I hear a story like that, you know, and it, and it, it triggers a, a memory in my mind. I love to share it, but so I, I too am a race car driver. Um. Albeit, I've only done it one time, and I'll definitely say I'm a novice, but I have driven, so I had an opportunity with, uh, ConnectUS, one of our, our, my supplier partner friends. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, they're, a distributor for Verizon Wireless and many amongst some other things. But, uh, so we were at Dallas Motor Speedway about a month ago and, uh, connect us is, you know, they have a race car in the NASCAR circuit as well. They also have a stretch limo. It can hold 20 people, but it's a nascar I. Frame, I mean, it, it is, it's literally a NASCAR race car cut in half and extended. So that's really cool. And, uh, had the opportunity to actually get behind the wheel and do 10 laps in a NASCAR race car with the Dr with a coach next to me, that, that was, uh, obviously the only way that was gonna happen. But I was sudden the whole time, I'm like, oh wait, are you really gonna let me get behind this car? I mean, have you seen my driving record? Uh, but it was exhilarating. Uh, super fun. Um. At the Dallas Motor Speedway, the, um, uh, the organization there. Yeah. They, they, they do corporate events and all, but you know, it's, they're real race cars and, uh, I got 150 miles an hour and, uh, it was really fun. So, uh, what, what got you into racing outta curiosity? Was it just something it, you thought looked good, fun?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 7:08

Uh, well actually, uh, by happenstance, a good friend of mine, uh, bought a Mercedes and uh, a MG and they gave him, uh, this a MG experience package where they fly him. Out to a race track in, uh, Laguna Seca in California. uh, he invited me to come along and I'll tell you, getting behind that a MG and just sitting on the track. It was, I knew, I knew I was hooked from the beginning. It was just amazing. So I.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 7:39

Were you ever consider yourself a risk taker prior to that moment? I.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 7:44

Not really. And you know, I've never been a sports guy or you know, like I said, I really have never had hobbies, uh, until I started racing.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 7:57

God, I Well that, that, I love asking that question'cause I never would've known that. I, I never would've thought that. That's really cool. So, you know, thinking back over the last 20 years, you know, uh, family owned business, you mentioned there was some challenges there. It makes perfect sense. I mean, even families that don't work together sometimes can have challenges. Um, so, you know, how, how did growing up in that entrepreneur environment, you know, shape your approach to the customer experience and how you lead the company today?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 8:24

Well, you know, I, I think, um, I. You know, working with your family humbles you. Uh, and, and it also gives you a different experience. Uh, but, you know, we, we were forced to focus on the customer, uh, as a small business owner. So one of the first companies that I worked for, uh, with my family was a bagel shop, and they sold coffee and bagels, uh, in the St. Louis area. And it was right around the time when Einstein's was really blowing up and to compete with them, we had to work on our relationships, you know, so when somebody came in for that coffee, we knew'em by first name. We knew what they wanted. We knew how much cream they wanted in their coffee, um, what their bagel, uh, um, favorites were. we were kind of forced into it from the very beginning.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 9:17

Is it hard to find employees that can embrace that, that philosophy as well? I mean, even back then and now. Uh, how's that going in terms of, I mean, I, I talked to a lot of business leaders and I just hear there's recurring theme about this challenge of having good talent and, you know, uh, ambitious employees. Does that, does that ring true with you as well?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 9:38

Well, it, it's changed over the years. Um, you know, in the beginning it wasn't as difficult because you have that close connection with your employees. Um, and so. You know, for me, when I became the CEO of Abby Connect, um, I always treated my employees like business owners. And that was just because of the way that I was brought up. Um, and treating them like that and making them feel like they are part of the business, which they are, um,

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 10:06

yeah.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 10:07

you know, made a different relationship between my, me and my employees.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 10:12

Gosh. Um. No, that's, that's good to hear. I mean, uh, treating your employees like business owners, you're right. I mean, I, I've always, uh, that, that's, I was brought the same way. You know, I don't wanna consider myself a, an employee. I wanna be, you know, a part of the, the leadership team. And you don't need a title to be a leader. You can have leader attributes and leader traits, uh, without the title. And, uh, sometimes those are the best ones that are not doing it because of the title. They're just doing it'cause it's the right thing to do.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 10:39

Yeah.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 10:39

Um, so pivoting just a little bit, um. I'm really curious to know, I mean, you know, Abby started out as, and you still have Live Human receptionist, know, I love the, the sample you have on your website. It sounds like such a, such a friendly process like that, that's the kind of person you wanna have answer in your phone for you. Um, what convinced you, you know, it was time to go into the world of AI and, and have that AI receptionist, um, and how did you share ensure that new technology wasn't compromised? That personal touch that you're known for?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 11:11

Yeah. And, and that was very important to us because we are known for the personal touch. Um, a lot of especially my friends, thought I was crazy when I said I was gonna try to get into the technology business, but. It, it came out of a need. Um, and so this business has pivoted several times, uh, based off of customer needs, and that's how we've been able to stay in business for 20 years. you know, in the beginning when we were known as tele assistant, we were competing on cost, uh, and we were cutting cost as much as possible. Um. What we found was, is if we charged a little bit more and hired more receptionists per phone call and it we're able to spend more time on the call, we gave the caller a much better experience and we gave the, the client of the caller more opportunity to win that business. Um, and so that point we pivoted A few years later, there was another pivot point where were trying to do everything over the phones. We were doing a lot of scheduling. We were doing order taking. We would answer a lot of sales calls. We would do the normal transfer calls to ask answer FAQs and whatnot. But some of these scheduling platforms, uh, you know, we had to use a VPN to log into the, to the dentist's office and remote into his computer. And, you know, the whole shebang of how that can go wrong. And, you can't get into the computer, the password's not working or whatnot. And then the caller's on the line, um. Uh, so we ended up discontinuing all of those services and focusing on what we were good at, which was providing that human touch. Um, and that was another great pivot point. We've since added scheduling back into our array of services with a lot of the new technology, it it's a lot easier to, to schedule a call, um, to schedule a meeting for our client. Uh, but the pivot point that really led us into this idea of AI was, you know, colors are still looking to be connected with, they're still looking for that human empathy. I. But they also want to call in and get their task done. People are sick of calling and speaking to an offshore, uh, answering service or whatnot and not getting anywhere. you know, the, the fluff of just having somebody there on the call to talk to you isn't working anymore, and AI is going to be able to do a lot more like the scheduling, uh, like the order taking, um, looking up things in CRM. Uh, do a lot more, uh, for the client and save them a lot of money. so that's kind of why we pivoted to this. But as you kind of alluded to, we will never, um, get rid of the human touch. We will never get rid of humans answering the calls. There's always gonna be a balance, uh, between human and ai. And that's what we're seeing with our clients now.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 14:09

Is there particular verticals you're seeing most common? I mean, is there, like certain businesses you, you mentioned, you know, the dentist offices. Is there like some, if you had to put your top three, you know, customer verticals in three different buckets, do they fit in nice three buckets easily, or is it kinda like all over the map?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 14:26

They do. So we've been heavily involved in the legal space, uh, for

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 14:31

Okay.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 14:31

of our company. Uh, and then also dental. Medical has been a, a big industry that. It is a wide range of industries, just small business. Um, number of employees, uh, has been kind of the. The if you will. Uh, we're seeing that the AI space is about the same, uh, client base, um, but we are seeing more companies that we wouldn't have been able to do business with before come into the fold of, of our target market. Uh, we're working with some mid, uh, mid-size companies. We are talking to some enterprise companies as well. Um, so with the scalability of ai. But having that human as a backup to take the call if something goes wrong has been very attractive to enterprise businesses. Uh, but we've been really surprised too. Uh, we thought we would, uh, see some of our, our clients and industries really shy away from this, this, uh, hybrid model. Uh, an example is I have an attorney, specializes in elder law and, uh, you know, a lot of her callers of course, uh, you know, are elderly and, uh, need a little bit of handholding over the phone. Um, like to have that personal touch. Well, she came to us and she said, Hey, listen, you know, I know I've been client for a long time, but I'm looking to cut my costs, you know, how can you help me? And so we presented her with this option of AI to answer some of the calls at night, at least, she was very resistant, of course. Uh. We said, Hey, listen, we'll give it to you for free. Let's, let's, let's try it out. Let's see how this goes. And so we answered calls. Uh, she, she, she had us, uh, for the AI answering calls at night. Fast forward, she's one of our biggest advocates. She loves it. She loves it. Her clients love it. her callers, they, they have little problems with the technology. Um, they like that they can actually reach somebody. Somebody, right, and that they can get their call handled, um, without waiting on, on hold or without ringing, you know, three or four rings. The call is, uh, instantly answered. Their questions are instantly answered. They have a great dialogue. They're happy

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 16:53

God. That's, that's fantastic.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 16:55

I.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 16:55

Um, yeah. So, yeah, that, that's this pivot point we're talking about and going from the human touch and, and, uh, using technology now, uh, as much as you can share, I'd love to know, you know, what's been of the biggest challenges in training and AI to replicate that warmth and adaptability of a human receptionist. And, and, and what have you learned, uh, during this whole beta testing phases? Uh, have you had to make a lot of changes or, uh, uh, you know. Different configurations for the software.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 17:25

We, we, yeah, we have, you know, uh, when chat PT came out, I was enamored, like most of the country with, with this new technology. Um, and, uh. We thought, Hey, you know what? Let's throw up a prototype. Let's create a bunch of creative, uh, um, uh, ways to connect into some of these open AI and, and Google APIs and whatnot, and let's see if we can come up with something that, uh, mimics what we do. Uh, using basic prompt engineering, right? And just connecting straight into the APIs. And what we found was we couldn't be farther from the truth. It, it, it just could not be done. So we did have to develop our own software, um, and we did have to train our own models. Uh. What, when I, when we started building the software, I went to the software team and I said, Hey, listen, we're gonna spend some money. We're gonna spend some time developing this. But if we can't go to market with something that does exactly what our receptionists do now and has that human touch. Then we're gonna scrap it and we're gonna continue doing what we do because we do it well and we're well liked in the industry, and we've got a great business. You know, we don't, we don't, we're, we're not struggling to pivot right now. Um, so during the, the beta testing and during the building. It was the little nuances you've been training receptionists for over 20 years, that really make the difference. Uh, you know, for example, how long to pause during a conversation, when to pause, how to detect when a sentence is been completed, or an idea from the caller has been completed, and then respond. how to rephrase. your responses as an AI generated response when the caller doesn't understand. mimicking these natural kind of conversation flows was a challenge, and it did take a lot of time. Uh, it took a lot of beta testing, it took a lot of patience.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 19:39

So did you, I imagine you have analytics and you track like, you know, what, how many successful calls, you know, the AI can do because I'm, and I'm sitting here thinking, what if you know someone has a sick, you know, thick southern accent or a thick Boston accent? I mean, I, I deal with accents a lot. I, I'm nationwide and. And, uh, I'm from Georgia, so people tell me I have an accent. I'm like, I don't hear it, but maybe I do. Um, so there's that. I'm thinking, you know, if, if, if it's a complex conversation, is there ever like a, a trigger, an alert where the AI goes, you know, hold on a second, lemme see if I can get you someone else. And maybe, and then it's forwarded to a live person. Is, is that ever an option or does that ever happened?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 20:15

It is. It is. And I, and I think that's what makes us stand apart from some of the, you know, uh, technology startups, is that at any point, if there's some sort of issue or we detect some sort of friction from the caller, uh, it does transfer over to our live human receptionist. And by the way, we don't charge for that call either. So our humans will answer and they'll take care of the call. Um, but I think it's funny what you said, because it leads into some of the lessons we learned. That's, I, I did think the accents was gonna be a big, uh, challenge it actually was not a challenge. It has not been. Uh, my wife is from Lithuania, she's Russian, uh, and she's got a very thick accent. I only ans I only understand about 50% of what she says, our AI understands a hundred percent. Uh, every time she calls in, it's a perfect, uh, conversation between her and the ai. So I'm thinking about, uh, creating my own AI to translate what she says.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 21:14

That's great. That's funny. Uh, yeah, I, I've recently got a pair of the Ray Band meta glasses and, and it, you know, uh, apparently I haven't tested it yet, but it could do some translation and, uh, I mean, that'd be really cool if it could, even if you're speaking English or someone that has a real thick accent of if any sort. Sometimes that can be, that can make it uncomfortable. Or if it's a complex conversation, it's not just like you're getting directions or something. Um,

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 21:36

Oh,

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 21:36

I, I love how AI is making life easier in a lot of ways. In fact, you know, I've been having conversations with folks that are saying, well, it's gonna make us dumb and lazy. I'm like, no. I think I'm like in hyper creation mode, hyper as someone that's. Um, you know, I dare to even call myself a content creator, but I kind of am, and I got a YouTube channel. I got this podcast. I love creating sales guides and, and taking complex solutions and making it easy for consultants to, you know, uh, go sell'em frankly. And, um, yeah, so I think AI is really adding so much value. And on that note, you know, I'm thinking about companies that have a front desk receptionist. We've all been there again, you know, being in sales, uh, going door to door in, in my previous years, you walk in and you got the front desk receptionist and she holds up her hand. She goes, one minute. Uh, yes. Uh, you know, the x, Y, Z company, can you hold please? You know, I mean, so she's trying to greet people. She's trying to answer calls. She's probably the office manager too. This service isn't necessarily replacing that person. I, I, to me, it's just making their job more efficient and effective. Is that, is that what you're seeing?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 22:45

Absolutely. You know, and. I mean, even 20 years ago when we started, uh, we ran up against that of, Hey, I don't wanna replace my front desk receptionist. And our message was, well, for a few hundred dollars a month, how about you make that front desk receptionist even more personable with the people that come in because she's able to spend time with them or he's able to spend time with them. Um. now our message is the same with ai. know, uh, the, the humans that we employ to answer the calls will still have a job. They'll still be very valuable. But some of the other things that they can't do on a scalable, cost effective basis, the AI can handle. You know, you mentioned something, um, that's actually turned into one of my. Uh, passions. Uh, it's talking about, you know, how AI is, is not gonna replace all of the jobs. It's gonna replace some jobs, but it's gonna, create other jobs. And also, this notion out there that it's gonna hurt creativity and make, uh, employees even less, uh, uh, excited about their job. I think it can't be furthest from the

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 23:52

I agree.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 23:53

you do it right.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 23:54

Yep.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 23:54

I have an example. Uh, we have a sales guy. He is one of the most connector type of people you'll ever meet, where as soon as you speak to him, you feel like you're, um, valued. You feel like he's on your level, you feel great about the conversation. He can really connect with anybody, Um,

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 24:16

That's awesome.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 24:18

If, if, if I had, if we had a hundred times to, to ask him to fill out the CRM information and take the notes properly, it would still be a hundred times more that we'd need to ask him to do it. But with ai, he doesn't have to do this anymore, and now he's so much more happy to spend those ti that time on the phone call, working with clients over the phone and not doing the tasks that he hates doing. And so this is somebody that is. 10 times more happy with their job using ai.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 24:50

That is a great story and I love it'cause I haven't been a sales manager leader over, or, or my decades here. Yeah, I, I agree with you. It's, it never failed. The best sales guy hated paperwork and processes. I mean, buddy Barnett, rest in peace. Uh, one of my greatest sales guys ever, he would sometimes come in and I'm like, Hey buddy, man, I took out the reports. You've gone three days and no sales. Oh, Chris, I'm sorry. Here's five contracts I had signed. I forgot to turn'em in. I'm like, you know, you can't get paid to return these in, buddy.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 25:21

right.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 25:23

but that was buddy man. Buddy was, and, and everywhere he went, in fact, uh, I would go out in the field with him from time to time and,

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 25:28

sure.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 25:29

uh, we'd walk in to business and he'll throw his hand up. Hey John, how's it going buddy?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 25:33

Yeah.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 25:34

you know, we had this engagement and we would leave. I'm like, so how long have you known John? He goes, oh, I just met him.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 25:39

Okay,

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 25:39

I'm like. I, I swore you knew this guy forever. Back to your point, some people just have that gift and it's funny'cause if you have that gift then you don't have the gift of operations administrative details. So interesting to hear you tell that story.'cause I was just having this conversation a few days ago with someone and, and that's, that's kind of par for course it seems, but so how cool is it that now you are using AI to make that kind of salesperson more productive, more efficient? Uh. Tell me a little bit more how, how's that working? Is it just, uh, his phone calls are being transcribed and put into the CRM or

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 26:14

Pretty

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 26:14

how's that working?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 26:15

transcribed, they're put in the CRM. Uh, we actually run all of his calls through an engine that gives him advice. the call and it comes up with a list of action items that he needs to do after the call. And then, um, so the next iteration we're working on is that'll actually schedule his follow up calls and follow up emails on his behalf. Uh, it's pretty cool stuff.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 26:37

Well, you know, and I'm sure sales managers, you know, that's another job that's often, um. Underappreciated an organization.'cause you're middle, you know, they're middle managers. They're trying to, trying to do the reports for, for you. And those are senior leaders, but they're also trying to manage the employees and keep all the funnels clean and, and you know, that's a job that's really hard to do well, I mean, uh. I meet sales managers. They're either really good administrative people'cause they're task driven. And you got sales managers like, like Buddy and your salespeople, they're really salespeople, but yet they can't keep up with the administrative part. So that's, that's a real interesting take on how AI's not only helping with, uh, uh, Abby and your core offerings, but uh, other areas of the business. Fantastic. How many people are selling this? Is you, do you sell this through direct sales or is there a portion of your business or just coming because of your web presence and your digital marketing?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 27:32

Yeah, so we've, um, a lot of our leads come in from digital marketing, uh, like most small

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 27:38

Mm-hmm.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 27:38

um, you know, we've, we've, we've done the whole trade show route. Uh, you know, we've, we've looked at other opportunities, but a lot of'em are coming in. One of the changes that we're making right now is we're, we're pivoting to a more of a product led organization. And, you know, it's, it's a hot topic. Uh, we've always been product led because we've always focused on what we do and let that kind of speak for itself. Um, but we're really ingratiating that in every point of the customer journey now. Um, and so when a client first comes to our website. They have two opportunities. They can call and they can speak to a salesperson, but they can also sign up for free and try the service. you know, free speaks to everybody and, um, the proof is always in the pudding. And so that's why we encourage people to go to our website, abby.com and sign up for a free two week trial, uh, on their services and just see for themselves.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 28:35

Well, that's fantastic. Is it, a set of parameters of that two weeks? It's just the basic. You know, phone? Is there any, I guess there's no integrations or anything like that,'cause that, that wouldn't make sense, but is it, like a portal that you could log into and kind of manage your receptionist per se, like what it can and can't do and, and maybe have access to your calendar and stuff like that?

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 28:53

Yeah, yeah. We

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 28:54

awesome.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 28:55

very hands-on with the onboarding and we still are. Um, but we, we have a, a self-serve onboarding now. So as soon as you, as soon as you sign up, you're logged in and you're presented with a very nice interface that walks you through step-by-step, um, how to, uh, configure the, the account, whether it's AI or human or hybrid. Uh, so they can do that on their own.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 29:18

you know, as we wrap up here, uh, just a few more questions, but, um, you know, what advice do you have for small, medium business owners that, ha they haven't called you yet, they haven't clicked yet. I mean, what advice do you have for them? And, uh, you know. Are there common objections you got your, your sales teams are hearing that it can easily overcome by telling the story or showing them the demo, you know? Any other advice you have for customers that just have been reluctant and haven't made the jump yet? I.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 29:45

Yeah. So, know, the, one of the pieces of advice that we'd like to give is start small with ai, uh, with any technology, uh, as well. But with AI especially, find that one niche, uh, in your business that it can help implement it, measure it, watch it be effective. I. Then you can use that use case to evangelize, using AI in more parts of your business. Um, so that's, that's typically what I tell people is to just start small. Uh, the other thing is, you know, when you use the, the popular, uh, Geminis and chat GPTs and the CLOs and all these, the, the. They're so open, you know, you can conversate with them, you can take the conversation anywhere. Um, but some of the companies like Abby that are building, uh, very, uh, targeted services, uh, it's a much different experience. So, you know, like I said, when we first prototyped, we connected straight into the APIs and these things could go anywhere. I mean, you could ask it who had wants to, uh, uh, vote for the president and would have that conversation with you. so we had to develop software that honed in the conversation to be specific to what a receptionist would do. Um, and that, and that's what we're seeing, all the small businesses that are coming out with great AI products. Um, I would just. advise people to try it and see where in the business where it can help you.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 31:21

Um, I. That's, I got so many questions popped in my head as that last comment. Um, so with each customer, um, is the AI being trained? I mean, is it, so, you know, from week one to week seven, is AI gonna evolve and get better at handling those unique calls about, you know, maybe there it is a company that sells, uh, custom screens for, or shades for houses, for example. Will it get better at asking discovery questions and does it evolve as it learns or is it kind of out of the box? Doing what it needs to do.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 31:55

Good question. Yeah, it does evolve. Uh, you know, the, the word training is, is thrown out a lot, um, and misleading and, and ai. Uh, but there, there's a process that we're working on where the AI identifies questions, um, that you might not have answered as a business owner, uh, in the portal. And it'll send you an alert and ask you the answer to that question or suggest an answer. And so that we want you to still have control. We don't want this AI model to go off on its own and, you know. Somehow tell somebody something that you didn't want to tell them and promise them something that you didn't want to promise them. Um, so there's a level of control with a level of self-learning and self-optimizing.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 32:42

Fantastic. Well, I think we've covered a lot. I am very interested and sees great value in what we've talked about and, and the offering. I mean, everybody's so busy nowadays and, and we we're, we're flooded with information. There's so much information out there. I. There's a quote I love, you know, d drowning in, um, d drowning in information, but start for knowledge, you know, so it's kind of cool how, you know your service can help. You know, I kind of bridge that gap in a lot of ways. Is, uh, Nate, is there any last words or anything we haven't covered that you wanted to share with us in our last few minutes? I.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 33:13

Yeah, I mean the, the, the, the, the message that I really want people to understand is that if you figure out how to use ai, it's, it's not gonna replace jobs. The people that use AI are gonna replace the people that don't use ai. and I'm, I'm really passionate about that message. We have a employee. Just a quick, um. A story for you. We're

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 33:37

Sure.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 33:38

across the board because we offer, uh, free learning, uh, modules and, and training classes for even our entry level employees to learn ai. And, uh, she started as a receptionist and, uh, she has five boys, can believe

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 33:53

Wow,

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 33:53

Single mother. Her family lives in

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 33:55

God bless.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 33:56

state. Uh, she has little, little help here. Um, and she started as a receptionist and, uh, she's since worked her way up to a support technician and now she's completed our AI learning modules and her salary is going to be increasing just based off of her learning and her knowledge. Um, and the opportunities that have opened up to her are incredible. So we see a big opportunity to raise the bar for our current employees. And that's the message here is don't worry about it. Replacing employees, worry about bringing your employees with you on this journey, and you can improve their lives and you can improve, you know, their earning potential.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 34:39

Gosh. Yeah, that's I agree a hundred percent. And, and I'm seeing the same thing and, and uh, I guess it's just, you know, humans, we have a hard time with change sometimes even good change can be hard,

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 34:49

Yeah.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 34:49

but, you know, once we can demonstrate the ROI, we can demonstrate the advantage. And the benefits me.'cause, you know, even as a tech enthusiast myself, sometimes I have a hard time convincing business leaders to go from a clipboard to a tablet that's connected to a sim card and, you know, just capturing all the data and put it in the cloud. And now I, I, I have a lot of salespeople on my team that, uh, used Plaud, uh.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 35:12

Mm-hmm.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 35:13

plug for plug. But yeah, they just set it on the table and it listens to the whole conversation. And, and like you said, it itemizes action items. It summarizes different categories, it makes recommendations. And um, I see that as just more efficient and more effective. I mean, how many meetings we go to that a lot of great stuff's talked about, but, but no one's taking notes and the meeting's over two days later. The me, the medium eyes would never have happened'cause no one took notes and no one captured action items. So, um, that is fascinating. Now I'm really, uh, grateful for your time today, Nathan. Definitely check the show notes. I appreciate the time.

nathan-strum_1_07-01-2025_062137: 35:48

Yeah, I appreciate it too and it's been a great conversation. Thank you, Chris.

chris_1_07-01-2025_092137: 35:51

You're so welcome. And there you go folks. Another episode. Of the wireless way. And, and if you haven't heard me explain it before, the wireless way, you know it's a double entendre. I started out as a wireless technology show five years ago and had this epiphany that wireless is no strings attached and no judgment. And the, the ways, the path, the journey, and the venture. I think we hit on all those today. Uh, definitely check out the show notes. Check out abby.com to learn more about how you can, optimize your, your business, your customer. Experience and and I look forward to seeing you next time on the wireless way.